


The Devil Wears Prada

by Sass_a_Fraz



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Assistant!Harry, Fashion World, M/M, Niam - Freeform, Runway - Freeform, The Devil Wears Prada AU, Wet Dream, don't know what else to tag, editor!Louis, larry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2468036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sass_a_Fraz/pseuds/Sass_a_Fraz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A naive young Harry comes to Runway and scores a job as the assistant to one of the city's biggest magazine editors, the ruthless and cynical Louis Tomlinson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A Vogue model's life ! 

Wake up in the morning, designer underwear to designer clothes and stilettos. A life of such style and chicness most girls would die for.  
Male modelling was a whole new world of its own. Well tailored suits, trenchcoats, you name it.

They all worked to make it to the cover page of the best fashion magazine in New York and the world, Runway. Runway was the blood and life of the founder and editor Louis Tomlinson. The world around him slogged to get the smallest word of appreciation or just a nod. 

The alarm woke Harry up at 6:30 sharp. He had an interview to attend. After obtaining a degree in journalism, life wasn't as easy as he expected it to be. His aim was to work for The New York Journal but the world he was faced with after graduating was hostile. Since the first job was supposed to be one that would decide the rest of his career, he was looking out for that perfect job to get him started. He lived with his boyfriend Nick and hung out with their common friends from uni Andy and Lou. 

Harry took a shower and changed into his usual attire of brown trousers, a formal off-white shirt and a plaid sweater. It was already 7 and he had to get to his interview by 7:30 and had no time to hunt down his lenses. So he wore his only pair of glasses which were passed on to him from some old uncle of his. Thick rimmed and certainly not something to be worn for an interview with anyone from the fashion industry. But who was he to know that.

7:25 and Harry Edward Styles was at the doors of a skyscraper listing Runway as one of the accommodated offices . The security guided him to the office. 

At entering, Harry realized this was totally not his scene. Beautiful people were running around perfecting every nook and corner of this enormous office, pushing along rails of clothes, girls changing footwear from comfortable flats to 6 inch heels all chanting the same mantra of 'HE IS HERE'. Harry was clueless on who this 'HE' was but one thing he knew was the 'HE' was getting there soon enough and he did not want to make the wrong impression at his first visit. So he waited at the reception. 

 

Minutes later, the most graceful person Harry had ever laid eyes on, walked in.  
Flair and beauty seemed to be words created to describe this gorgeous man.  
"I shouldn't be having such thoughts" Harry tried to reason with his mind, but to no avail.  
"Have the 12 Hermès scarves and the mid-length spring line skirts of Dior been sent yet?" asked the man in a very firm but slight and raspy voice with a slight feminine lilt. 

"Oh how sexy would that voice sound, moaning" was Harry's next thought and he had to shift his legs a little to adjust a tiny problem that had just arisen in his pants. All pun intended.

The man's assistant continued the discussion on the skirts and scarves. Harry could not get himself to stand up and talk so he sat there mutely. Once the man passed along and disappeared into the halls, the receptionist asked "May i know the reason for your visit ?"  
"I was called for an interview for Mr.Tomlinson's P.A." replied Harry.  
"Please go straight down the hall and take the second right. It will lead you to Mr.Tomlinson's office. He is ready to see you now"  
Harry nodded, thanked the lady and followed her instructions and knocked at the door.

"Come in" came the reply and Harry entered.


	2. Settling in

The elegant man was Mr.Tomlinson himself. He went through Harry's CV then looked up at Harry,  
"So you applied for the post of my assistant, I see" he continued, eyes scanning Harry's clothes and slicked back hair and nervous face. 

"My last P.A came in last week and didnt last a week and the one before him didnt last three days and you think you can ? You will need to dedicate your life to this job. Its not just fashion, we set trends for the whole world and any signs of sloppiness will get you fired immediately." said the Blue eyed beauty 

"Yes Mr.Tomlinson" replied a shaky Harry.

"Its Louis" came the reply 

"And you start immediately. One mistake and you are out of here. Get it ?" Asked Louis.

"Yes sir" replied Harry.

"LOUIS not sir" came the reply 

"Louis" repeated Harry after Louis. 

When he got out, a dark haired girl with a perfect figure wearing a suit and heels told him to wait just outside as she went into Louis' office and came back with a few papers.

" This is your desk and that's the phone you attend" said the girl pointing to a table right outside Louis' office door, "I am Eleanor, Louis' P.A. I attend to the serious matters around here and by the schedule from tomorrow you need to get Louis his Cappuccino with 1 milk and no sugar from the Starbucks across the block at 7:35, Lunch will need to be picked from The Seine at 1:15 and heated and set out by 1:30 on Louis' table and cleared by 1:45. The rest of the day, you attend calls that come in, help with clothe deliveries and follow Louis' orders and most importantly, No questions" she recited out.

It took Harry a while to comprehend the whole list given to him but he got the gist of it. "It seems easy enough" thought Harry but he had never been more mistaken in his life. He didn't need to worry about that till the next day though.  
He was relieved. He now had a job.

A job that could get him to the NYJ.  
That evening he went home to Nick with the great news about his new job and that soon turned into a congratulatory make-out session. All that while he did feel quite guilty about his train of thought at seeing Louis and listening to his voice, but he waved it off to be a one time thought, probably a product of being a little too overwhelmed. 

Probably.

He and Nick had been together for almost 2 years and he had never been happier with anyone else. They had an amazing sex life and otherwise and there was no reason to complain. 

Nick worked at an art gallery and made good money which helped with the rent and other necessities. 

The next morning Harry cooked for Nick and left for work; stopped at the Starbucks across Runway and got Louis' order and set it on Louis' table and got to his desk and set up a picture of him and Nick on one corner and opened his laptop to check if he had gotten any mail. The secondary door swished open and there entered Louis. He dropped his black trench-coat on Harry's table and entered his office.

Harry was unsure of what he had done wrong to not even deserve a "hello" or maybe a smile. All the same, he hung Louis' coat on the coat-stand and continued with the activities of the day. 

The first of the troubles started a minute later when he heard a loud "HENRY?" from Louis' office. He stared at the door and heard a very angry whisper from Eleanor "What are you waiting for dimwit ? Go on inside. He is asking for you"  
"But .... I'm Harry"  
"No one cares. Now get in" screeched Eleanor in a low voice. 

Harry entered and was faced with a " What is this shit on my table ?"  
"Coffee, as you prefer it Louis" replied Harry  
"You call that coffee ? It's stone cold, go get me another coffee. And it better be hot this time" scolded Louis 

Harry rushed down to Starbucks and got new coffee for his boss. Lunch went better than the coffee and after clearing up after Louis, Harry went down to get his own lunch at the employees canteen. He picked out a few slices of bacon and some chicken.

"If i were you, I would not go anywhere near that kind of food" came an Irish accented voice from behind him 

He turned  
"Hey, I'm Niall, Niall Horan, layout editor at Runway" continued the blonde haired boy.  
"Hi I'm Harry Styles" replied Harry  
"What was that about the food ? " he asked 

Niall took hold of Harry's tray of food and dumped it into the trash and picked out a salad pack and handed it to Harry and smiled and walked away.  
The day continued similar to the previous. Harry had to run around innumerable times as Louis either felt the coffee was too hot or too sweet, the food was not upto his expectation or as Harry felt, just to trouble Harry out of boredom. 

The next day came the next trouble.  
Louis called 'Henry' to his office while Louis was on the phone and asked him to go pick "the skirts".  
"Which skirts Louis ?" enquired a confused Harry.  
All he got was an annoyed look in return. He quickly exit before he could make things worse and went in a tensed state to Eleanor. 

"What skirts is Louis even talking about ?" he whispered frantically  
"DO YOU EVEN READ THE NOTES I LEAVE ON YOUR TABLE OR WHAT" Eleanor retorted at a now, trembling Harry.  
"Go down the street, 5th Avenue 3rd shop to your right, the latest collection of miu-miu skirts will be packed and kept ready for delivery. Bring that and get back quick before Louis blows down the office because of your sloppiness" continued Eleanor.  
Harry, to his dismay realised (on his way to get the skirts), that the particularly "indecent" thoughts just began to increase more Louis talked to him than decreasing as he thought it would. Everytime he saw Louis, all he could do was imagine Louis in bed. 

But for all he knew Louis could be straight, with a model girlfriend he proudly took to fashion shows around the world.  
Feeling this way just made him feel guiltier about being with Nick. He did love Nick. And got more love than he deserved from Nick. Everything was perfect. He was way below Louis' standards and he knew that well. 

As he entered the office he was met with a furious Eleanor.  
"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG HARRY ? LOUIS HAD A MEETING WITH THE DESIGNERS SCHEDULED THREE AND HALF MINUTES EARLIER AND YOU HAVE MESSED UP AGAIN"  
Harry scurried along and knocked at Louis' door. 

"Come in" came a hostile voice.  
The voice scared Harry more than anything.  
He entered to face the wrath.  
"When i ask for skirts, I want the skirts brought to me. I am not willing to wait to grow old before you bring me the skirts just because i have a slow and foolish assistant." Louis said coldly.

"Now get to room 4 for the RESCHEDULED meeting with the designers and set up the lights and tables" he continued.  
Harry left immediately.  
He rushed to the room and set up everything perfectly to make up for his earlier mistake.

He felt quite small, unwanted and out of place when all the beautiful designers entered the room followed by Louis himself.  
"What wouldn't I do for one word of praise from Louis" thought Harry as the discussions began. 

Louis sat on a huge white sofa as each designer presented his or her work awaiting just a word of appraisal from The Louis Tomlinson. 

After a few minutes, Niall Horan from the canteen excused himself and entered the room and gave Harry a small wave as he made his way to Louis. 

As the designers showed different combinations of clothes they had planned out for the next season, Harry found it quite humorous that these people made such a huge deal about using the wrong shade of a colour. I mean, wasn't it all the same ? Baby pink or rose pink , charcoal black or jet black, what huge difference did it even make ?

The next minute, his eyes met Louis, and he got a cold hard stare after which Louis got back to his work. 

One of the designers picked up two belts when Louis asked for belts for a dress and said "These belts are so different, can't choose which one would suit better"  
To Harry both belts looked exactly the same, turquoise with brass buckles, so he couldn't help but giggle at that comment. Louis turned to him sharply and asked, "What's so funny?"  
"Fuck" he thought  
" No. No, no. Nothing's... You know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I'm still learning about all this stuff and, uh..." replied Harry

"This... stuff ? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff." continued Louis in a severe tone that left Harry close to tears.

 

After the short reprimanding, Louis swished out of the studio and Harry ran to the washroom. Being the sensitive and pampered boy he was, this reprimanding left him sobbing in the men's washroom.  
"I do try. I try hard to please Louis. Why can't he see that ? Eleanor never gets any reprimanding while Louis doesn't even call me by my right name! " thought a crying Harry

"Henry" he scoffed in his head. 

"Is it so difficult to just remember my name or is Louis just trying his best to belittle me" he wondered.

"We barely spend time together Harry... You're always too busy either at work or preparing for it " complained Nick in bed that night.

"I'm sorry Nick but my boss is being a bitch. He is never satisfied with my work and always expects more although i try so hard" replied Harry 

"His cheekbones and that beautiful jawline would look so pretty with a smile but he just doesn't. Everyone works hard to please him but ..." Harry went on.

"Pretty huh ?" commented a slightly jealous sounding Nick with a wink trying not to let Harry notice.

"Not more than you" replied Harry with a kiss, but felt guilty because although this wasn't the first time he had said that he found Nick the prettiest of all, it certainly was the first time he had lied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi   
> Thanks for reading   
> This is my first work and i'd be glad if you could leave comments on if you like it or not and how should i improve.


	3. Chapter 3

The word 'pretty' brought Louis to his mind although he wanted to hate that man for treating him like trash.

That night he got no sleep. He thought of ways to please his boss. The more he thought, the more blank he felt. 

The next day he got to work a little early and went straight to the layout department in search of Niall, the only person who treated him like a human in that hostile place. 

"Hey Harry, how can I help you ?" came Niall's voice from somewhere behind the racks.

"How to please Louis?" Asked Harry 

"Get on your knees and suck him off maybe ? " came Niall's voice with heavy mockery 

"As much as I wish I could, give me a proper solution " whined back Harry much to his own surprise at the words coming out of his mouth, hoping Niall wouldn't notice the former part of his reply. 

Niall laughed before replying " Have you seen yourself in a mirror before ?" 

"How is that connected to keeping Louis from firing me " shot back Harry 

"Harry, as much as a sweet person you seem to be, you work at a fashion magazine place, you need to look the part. Maybe not like a model, but atleast acceptable enough" explained Niall patiently from somewhere behind clothe rails

 

"Help me maybe ???" Asked Harry timidly.

"Glasses, hair, clothes, shoes" ticked off Niall looking at Harry for the first time since Harry entered Niall's office that day.

"The male models always have excess of clothes from shoots put around here, which no one will notice missing, if we borrow a few" said Niall dragging Harry along to the dressing rooms with a few skinny jeans and some chic blazers and shirts.

"And these shoes" continued Niall picking out 3 pairs of designer shoes and boots 

"Maybe a few coats and a few more casuals" went on Niall picking out clothes and shoes off racks and railings, all branded designs of fashion designers who styled most of Hollywood. 

"I ..... I can't afford any of these Niall. Could you help me pick out something at a local outlet sometime this week whenever you're free?" asked Harry, a little ashamed of admitting his not-so-fine financial condition. 

"You do realise you don't have to pay for any of these right silly ? You are just borrowing some clothes that is of no use to anyone here kiddo" replied an amused Niall.

"Oh" came a small noise from Harry 

"Take the day off kiddo, we got to get you some help with many other things" said Niall flailing his arm weirdly looking at Harry's slicked back hair. 

"But I like my hair" said Harry 

"You came to me for help, now let me do my work" came a serious reply from Niall that slightly intimidated Harry.

They made their way out to the dressing and make up department after Harry packed all the clothes and shoes Niall got him to 'borrow' into a bag. 

"How long have you worked for Louis?" asked Harry 

"10 years" replied Niall

"10 years??" repeated a surprised Harry 

"Louis started Runway 10 years back and that was when i joined him. We went to uni together but he is a prodigy and knows his way through this world and it's always a pleasure to work with him" said Niall 

"How old is Louis?" asked a very curious Harry 

"30! Started this empire when he was 20 and boy, it was no play. He started at the bottom and now he commands this world. It's all skill." 

"How did ... I mean what hap.. ?" Harry tried digging more information.

"It's not my place to tell you more about your boss dude. Here we are " said Niall entering a huge parlour like room where other models were prepping for their photo-shoot. 

"Let's start with your hair" said Niall   
looking at Harry as though he was trying to picture a good hairstyle for the younger boy.

 

After a thorough wash and a good blow dry Harry heard a appraising "Hmm" from Niall   
"You have great curls, why do you slick it back silly" scolded Niall in a playful manner.

"What is your eye vision prescription pretty boy?" asked Niall next.

As Harry replied, Niall asked Harry if he had lenses to which Harry replied he did. 

That night Nick seemed more irritated than usual and went to sleep without a word after dinner. 

Harry had no option but to follow him to bed and sleep off. 

He knew they were growing a little distant since he got a new job. 

His feelings for Louis left him doubtful of his feeling for Nick and his work left him no time for Nick. 

 

The next day, he ran a brush through his curls, wore his contact lenses the first time in weeks and tried out some of the clothes Niall gave him. He wore jet black skinnies with a plaid red shirt, left the top few buttons open, and black small wedged boots. 

All that was left now was to test if it was of use.


End file.
